The government has admitted it did not do an impact assessment on how the IHT increase would hit UK farmers. An FOI submitted by the Conservative Rural Forum has revealed Defra couldn’t estimate how many farms would be affected—or how much they’d have to pay—as that “information is not held”. Ploughing more pressure on the government to U-turn on the policy…
It’s no wonder Starmer parroted BBC Verify’s estimate that only 500 estates a year would be affected – a claim they have since deleted. He didn’t have his own numbers. Meanwhile, as small farms face selling off their land to pay the death tax, foreign farmers are being handed £536 million – five times the revenue the tax is hoped to generate for the Treasury. As one farmer put it to Guido on Tuesday, “it’s a tax without any thought put into it”. They were right…
Former Treasury minister and adviser to Burnham in the Makerfield campaign Lord Jim O’Neill, who has turned down a role in his government, said Burnham’s first statement Commons was:
“The last thing investors wanted to hear… gilt yields have risen by a 0.25% in one day, which is a lot. We’ve not had that since Liz Truss days… If your country is under the focus of ‘can they come up with a sensible fiscal strategy’ on a day when the markets think ‘well no, you’re not showing any sign of it’ you’re going to have a tough day…if it stays like this your mortgage rate is going up.”